Oh Everest, My Everest

It is no secret to those closest to me that there are a lot of activities in which I wished to have participated as a youngling. Beyond the joining the local scout troop, taking legitimate dancing lessons, and being allowed near the ocean or even the deep end of a pool, there was the great hope of learning some form of martial art. I will spare myself the pain of writing yet another journal entry about how much I wish my parents had not raised me with such a narrow view of my abilities and an unhealthy amount of tacit pressure to become a heart surgeon, corporate lawyer, or concert pianist. I won't even talk about Catholicism or guilt. No, this is about karate now.

All of the hours I have ever spent sifting through the worthless ads on craigslist have paid off - big time. This is only possible because I decided to move to Queens instead of Brooklyn. It is only possible because I was growing tired of my little ailments who were beginning to bring their friends over and I knew I needed some exercise. It is only possible because the gym I joined turned out to be kind of lame and inconvenient. That's right, friends. I found legitimate karate classes on craigslist that run on donations instead of the many tuition dollars most schools ask for - and it's no scam. I am still a little shocked to have stumbled onto this situation myself.

The style is Koryu Uchinadi Kenpo Jutsu, currently led by a fellow in Australia by the name of Patrick McCarthy. It is a Japanese style with ties to traditional Chinese martial arts, but with a focus on more practical self-defense skills. I've only been going to classes for a little over a week, and I already know how to fend off (and hurt) an attacker in about a dozen ways. I am even surprised to find that I am capable of dozens of push-ups (when I couldn't even do five a few months ago) thanks to the nature of our hitting exercises. I can't even express how happy it makes me to be learning this art. My instructor, who so freely offers his knowledge out of his personal studio for small classes (~10 max.), means serious business. So do my classmates (well, of course there is the occasional schmuck, but that fool is always the exception). It's so refreshing to do something like this and to have everyone involved take it so seriously at the same time. This feels like the beginning of a very fulfilling time in my life.